Formal Requirements (EU Citizens)

The documents attached to an application of EU citizens must meet the following requirements:

  • The documents must be originals or certified copies.
    • The Ministry of the Interior employees only make copies of the travel document and register office documents in the office. You must provide the originals of these documents, which will be returned to you.
    • A document proving your purpose of residence must be provided in its original version and the Ministry of the Interior will keep it. You may provide the Ministry with a certified copy of the original, but you must bring in the original with you.
    • As for other documents (e.g. a lease agreement), the Ministry employees keep the documents and do not make copies. You may provide the Ministry with a certified copy of the original and you do not have to bring in the original with you.
  • The documents cannot be older than 180 days. This does not apply to a travel document, register office documents or your photograph if it is current.
  • Documents in other than Czech or Slovak languages need to be provided in their original versions together with sworn translations into Czech. As EU citizens you may replace some documents with a single standardised form which does not need to be translated. The Czech Republic accepts a single standardised form for certification of:
    • birth,
    • death,
    • marriage,
    • legal capacity to marry,
    • registered partnership,
    • legal capacity to enter into a registered partnership,
    • adoption of a child,
    • no criminal record, 
    • address.

Public documents issued by the EU Member States are accepted by the Ministry of the Interior by default without needing to be further certified. Documents issued by other countries (including Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) need to be certified with an apostille or a certification clause issued by a higher-level authority (so-called superlegalisation). Please see more information on the requirement of certification of foreign public documents by a higher-level authority.